Uxbridge teen raises almost $125K to give a family in need a home

It was a 2013 visit to a Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Uxbridge when Joshua Morrison was inspired to fundraise for a family in need.

Morrison was 12 years old at the time and his goal to raise $100,000 in pennies to build a Habitat for Humanity townhouse for a low-income family in Durham region wouldn’t be easy.

“At first, I was just trying to raise pennies in my school … We put cans in stores to collect pennies and coins,” he said.

“Eventually, I started speaking to businesses and organizations, which a few of them donated. One anonymous organization matched $18,000 and that put us over our goal.”

Five years later and just shy of $125,000, almost $25,000 more than Morrison hoped to raise, the now 17-year-old hammers nails into the frame of the Oshawa townhouse he helped to fund.

“Finally being able to actually build the house myself… it’s been a kind of theoretical house for a while and now it’s coming into an actual, real, livable house,” said Morrison.

But if that wasn’t rewarding enough, Morrison met the matriarch of the family who will soon get to call this townhouse a home.

Aggy Mtawa stands at the build site, looking at the frame of a house that will one day belong to her.

“(It’s a) very exciting moment because you can’t compare where we are living now. This is like a dream come true. It’s like winning the lottery,” said Mtawa.

Joshua’s mother, Gloria Morrison, was also on hand at Friday’s Habitat build. She said that even though there were times when her son felt that he took on too big of a goal, he always pushed through.

“We’re just over the top thrilled and so very proud that he stuck to it,” she said.

A spokesperon for Habitat for Humanity told Global News the Mtawa family will likely move in to their Oshawa townhouse by summer 2019.

— With files from Aaron Streck